This is how I feed my table with data retrieved by ajax (not sure if this is the best practice tough, but it feels intuitive and works well):
/* initialise table */
oTable1 = $( '.tables table' ).dataTable
( {
'sPaginationType': 'full_numbers',
'bLengthChange': false,
'aaData': [],
'aoColumns': [{"sTitle": "Tables"}],
'bAutoWidth': true
} );
/*retrieve data*/
function getArr( conf_csv_path )
{
$.ajax
({
url : 'my_url'
success : function( obj )
{
update_table( obj );
}
});
}
/* build table data */
function update_table( arr )
{
oTable1.fnClearTable();
for ( input in arr )
{
oTable1.fnAddData( [ arr[input] );
}
}